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Friday, September 10, 2010

At this point, it's pretty clear that would-be Quran-burner Terry Jones is just a media troll. If there's one thing this country doesn't need, it's more media trolls. We've got Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck, Newt Gingrich, Rush Limbaugh, Pam Geller, etc. There really shouldn't be any openings in that already saturated job market. But here's Jones, dragging the media off toward Stupidville as easily as any of the other manipulative self-aggrandizers.

First, the big Quran cookout was canceled. Then it turned out that Jones canceled the event for completely made up reasons, claiming that Park51-backers had agreed to move the community center in Manhattan. Where the "protest" was originally about Islam in general, it had suddenly taken a sharp turn and was now about the community center. Of course, the backers said nothing of the sort, so now Jones hints coquettishly that his book burning may be back on. Oh boy, a twist!

For their part, the media are starting to wonder how this obvious frootloop ever got their attention in the first place. The New York Times is running a piece titled, "Coverage of Koran Case Stirs Questions on Media Role," in which that burning question not only isn't answered, but is barely addressed. Basically, all it really does is track how a local story went national. Others address the question more directly...[CLICK TO READ FULL POST]